Spirituality
unites us everywhere. I was
fortunate to experience a number of aboriginal rituals last Fall on a
cruise of the South Sea Islands. The highlight for me was touching noses
with a Maori Chief in New Zealand. First, a native woman instructed
me carefully to become the Chief of our group, and to represent us in the
ceremony.

As
I went up on the stage, one of the young warriors in full war paint rushed
upon me with a spear. In a challenge, he threw a leaf down on the ground
at my feet. Now our fate was in my hands, or rather feet: Had I trod on
that leaf, it would be war. But I slowly bent down, carefully picked up
the leaf, and backed up cautiously and respectfully. Now all the warriors
and dancers and musicians broke into smiles, and the Chief gave us his
speech of welcome. In response, I thanked him for opening their village to
us and preparing this ceremony and meal. And then I declared, as
instructed, "Although we come from far lands, your people are our
people now, and my people are your people." Of course, this message
was not a new one for me; I felt at home. The Chief and I sealed our unity
with a handshake and touching noses twice. Then they demonstrated their
skills and dances for us, followed by a meal traditionally wrapped in
leaves and cooked in the earth under a fire pit.

By
a stroke of luck, I found the proceedings of a 2005 conference in Samoa:
Pacific Indigenous Dialogue: On Faith, Peace, Reconciliation & Good
Governance. It includes outlines of the beliefs and practices of the
various aboriginal peoples of the Pacific. They all declare—as do the
religions we know more about—our fundamental unity, our being one in
spirit. From this follow the rules of hospitality to all individuals,
often even to enemies. Tribal people the world over have been
characterized as blood-thirsty savages by some, and idealized by others as
wise peaceful people in direct touch with spirit, the one spirit we all
live in. Which is true?

I
turned the question around and asked myself: What do we seem like to these
people? No different! For all our claims of culture and civilization, we
treated them no differently then they have treated each other: with
periodic tribal wars over territory and goods. And with our modern
technology, we often wage war with more deadly efficiency. Yes, we have
had our prophets and peace-makers, and so have they. But we are both
taking a long time to learn from those messages of peace and unity, and to
apply them consistently to our daily lives as individuals, families, and
nations, and what is even more basic—and difficult—to our own inner
selves. Here is Chief Black Elk, of mid-20th Century
America, in The Sacred Pipe:

The
first peace, which is the most important, is that which comes within the
souls of people when they realize their relationship, their oneness,
with the universe and all its powers, and when they realize that at the
center of the universe dwells, Wakan-Tanka, the Great Spirit, and
that this center is really everywhere, it is within each of us. This is
the real peace, and the others are but reflections of this. The second
peace is that which is made between two individuals, and the third is
that which is made between two nations. But above all, you should
understand that there can never be peace between nations until there is
first known that true peace which, as I have often said, is within the
souls of people.

Maybe
we all are Noble Savages. We all have the task of taming our
savagery and recognizing, embracing and enhancing our nobility. We are
called on to use our physical embodiment for the work of our spirit, for
an ongoing evolution on levels of existence of which we are only dimly
aware. I know, underlying that sentence there are many assumptions that
you may question, and you might use different words.

What
is the focus all this? More and more, it comes down to one message for me:
The Message of Unity. And increasingly I see it best manifested in
what some of us call interspirituality. I invite you to join in
this exploration by letting us know your thoughts and experiences,
agreements and disagreements.

The
banner of this newsletter and website is Interfaith Unity. The
theme of unity helps us to select among the wealth of wonderful events and
resources available. Much of the activity we report on is of an interfaith
and multifaith nature. For some time now, we have also tried to emphasize
this newer area: interspirituality. Some credit that term to the
late Brother Wayne Teasdale. He was a disciple of Bede Griffith,
another Roman Catholic monk who became a Sanyasin and led an Ashram
in India. He saw no conflict in engaging in the spiritual practices of
both Christianity and Hinduism, or any other. Here is Wayne Teasdale in The
Mystic Heart: Finding a Universal Spirituality in the World’s Religions:

We
are at the dawn of a new consciousness, a radically fresh approach to
our life as the human family in a fragile world.This
birth into a new awareness, into a new set of historical circumstances,
appears in a number of shifts in our understanding:

The
emergence of ecological awareness and sensitivity to the natural
organic world, with an acknowledgment of the basic fragility of the
earth.

A
growing sense of the rights of other species.

A
recognition of the interdependence of all domains of life and
reality.

The
ideal of abandoning a militant nationalism as a result of this
tangible sense of our essential interdependence.

A
deep, evolving experience of community between and among the
religions through their individual members.

The
growing receptivity to the inner treasures of the world’s
religions.

An
openness to the cosmos, with the realization that the relationship
between humans and the earth is part of a larger community of the
universe.

Each
of these shifts represents dramatic change; taken together, they will
define the thought and culture of the third millennium.… We could really name this age after any of
these shifts in understanding.To
encompass them all, however, perhaps the best name for this new segment
of historical experience is the"Interspiritual
Age."

Do
join me in exploring this hopeful and optimistic vision in future issues
of this newsletter.

I
wish you well from sunny San Miguel de Allende, a mile high on the great
central plateau of Mexico, the historic centre of its revolution of
independence. Amid the rich colours and sounds of a Mexican community, in
perpetual sunshine, we are also blessed with many artists and programs in
English for the expatriates living here. And there is an emphasis on
environmental, social justice and spiritual concerns.

At
the ceremonial plaza of the vast Botanical Gardens, decorated with the
symbols of many spiritual traditions, some 38 groups come regularly to
conduct their rituals. At first there were only native groups—not
thoroughly Catholic, nor thoroughly Indian, as our guide put it—with
full moon ceremonies and a sweat lodge, and now many other types of groups
too.

We
can find this interspiritual unity wherever we go, if we look for it.